Monday, June 09, 2008
It was an awesome ride, until the end
Went biking on Saturday. I decided to ride the Alameda Creek Trail all the way to the end. It was really nice, up until I passed Coyote Hills after lunch and the wind really started to pick up. The end of the trail was a little bit more than 2/3's of the way from the Dumbarton to the San Mateo bridge. Looking back at Coyote Hills, the water looks extremely shallow, no more than 2-3 feet deep for maybe a mile or 2 out.
Heading back, I biked onto Coyote Hills and over the Dumbarton Toll Plaza to the San Fransico Bay Wildlife Center where I made a right towards the Dumbarton Bridge. I continued on my way up onto the bridge itself. The Dumbarton Bridge actually has a small section made for bicyclists and pedestrians which is officially a part of the bay trail. The scary thing is the section is only separated from vehicles moving at highway speeds by a 3 feet tall, 3/4 foot wide concrete barrier. The noise of the cars racing by and the strong winds made hearing anything else impossible. One of the things about the Dumbarton I never knew about were the fishing piers that run almost directly underneath it and extends fairly far out into the bay on both sides. Another noticable feature is the railway bridge that runs parallel to the Dumbarton, about a mile away, which was in the open position.
At this point I was pretty tired, so I decided to head home. About 3/4 of a mile away from home, a car tried to run me over as I crossed the intersection with the light in my favor. The bike got caught in the bumper and I got knocked 3-4 feet into the intersection. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt seriously, with only bruises on my right side. The bike wasn't in as good shape. The rear wheel was mangled and the pedal warped to a funny angle. However, the frame itself was still ok. Its funny how this happened just one week after I got a new bike. In anycase, we went to the bike shop, where the guy paid for a new rear rim, pedals, and rear sproket.
Yeah, so the ride was awesome, until the end.
Heading back, I biked onto Coyote Hills and over the Dumbarton Toll Plaza to the San Fransico Bay Wildlife Center where I made a right towards the Dumbarton Bridge. I continued on my way up onto the bridge itself. The Dumbarton Bridge actually has a small section made for bicyclists and pedestrians which is officially a part of the bay trail. The scary thing is the section is only separated from vehicles moving at highway speeds by a 3 feet tall, 3/4 foot wide concrete barrier. The noise of the cars racing by and the strong winds made hearing anything else impossible. One of the things about the Dumbarton I never knew about were the fishing piers that run almost directly underneath it and extends fairly far out into the bay on both sides. Another noticable feature is the railway bridge that runs parallel to the Dumbarton, about a mile away, which was in the open position.
At this point I was pretty tired, so I decided to head home. About 3/4 of a mile away from home, a car tried to run me over as I crossed the intersection with the light in my favor. The bike got caught in the bumper and I got knocked 3-4 feet into the intersection. Fortunately, I wasn't hurt seriously, with only bruises on my right side. The bike wasn't in as good shape. The rear wheel was mangled and the pedal warped to a funny angle. However, the frame itself was still ok. Its funny how this happened just one week after I got a new bike. In anycase, we went to the bike shop, where the guy paid for a new rear rim, pedals, and rear sproket.
Yeah, so the ride was awesome, until the end.
